1. Technical Field
The technology disclosed herein relates to a system for opening and closing a display device that is installed, for example, in an aircraft, a train, or any other movable vehicle and opens and closes between a storage position and a viewing position.
2. Background Information
In recent years, moving vehicles, and particularly aircraft, have been provided with display devices that are installed on the back side of passenger seat or above passenger seats, and that display movies or other such content and the current position or other such flight information.
A display device installed on the back side of passenger seat is an individual-use display device, whereas a display device installed above the passenger seats is a display device used by two or more passengers able to view the screen of the display device.
FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram of the typical layout of display devices in an aircraft. In FIG. 1, when not in use, a display device 420 of the type that is installed above passenger seats 410 is stored at a storage position 421 near a ceiling 440 in order to allow enough space above the passenger seats 410 for the safety of passengers 430. When in use, the device opens to its viewing position 422.
A liquid crystal display is commonly used for the above-mentioned display device. Because of the viewing angle characteristics of a liquid crystal display, the viewing position 422 must be maintained at an angle of at least 90 degrees from the storage position 421. A method in which a clutch, a brake, or another such support mechanism is installed at the driveshaft has been proposed in order to support the display device at the viewing position 422 even when it is subjected to vibration from the moving vehicle (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 2007-161041).
Also, a method has been proposed in which a display device is closed to its storage position for the safety of passengers when a force over a threshold should be exerted due to collision by a person against the back side (that is, the opposite side from the screen) of the display device located in its viewing position (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application H5-097098).
Furthermore, a method has been proposed in which the display device is closed to its storage position in order to reduce the likelihood that a person will bump into the display device each time the proximity to an object is detected by a sensor (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 2008-13063).